Spirit possession, mental suffering, and treatment by theurgic flight anthropological study of a culture-bound syndrome among the Turkmens of Iran
Culture & Psychology March 3, 2022 Fatemeh Saki, A. Ahmadi 7 citations
A severe psychotic disorder known as spirit possession, fairy possession, or Porkhani occurs among Turkmen communities in Iran and Central Asia. Patients experience psychosis resistant to psychiatric treatment but find relief through specific cultural rituals. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork including observation, interviews, and attendance at healing ceremonies, the author argues that understanding this phenomenon requires considering the patient's cultural background, lifeworld, symptom descriptions, and cultural treatment methods, rather than relying solely on biomedical frameworks.